Watch: Leni Robredo say Working with Duterte would be difficult

Robredo: ‘If your beliefs on important issues are different, it will be very difficult.’

CEBU CITY, Philippines (UPDATED) – Vice presidential candidate and Camarines Sur 3rd district Representative Leni Robredo said that it would be difficult to work with presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte, the current survey front-runner for president, if he should win.

“What he said, it runs against commodification [of women] and all that we’ve been fighting for,” she said during an April 27 press conference organized by Cebu Women for Leni here.

Robredo was referring to the controversial statement made by Duterte during a campaign rally in Quezon City, about the rape of an Australian missionary during a siege in a Davao prison back in 1989.

“It’s scary. In fact, when the statements were given, I immediately sent out my statements in support of women. It might be harder to work. The VP should be the support of the president. If your beliefs on important issues are different, it will be very difficult,” she added.

Asked by Rappler if it would be difficult for her to work with Duterte, Robredo said: “Oo naman (Yes).”

On April 17, Robredo said that rape should never be the subject of jokes. And as human rights lawyer, she has seen the violence and trauma inflicted on women.

Robredo’s running mate Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Manuel ‘Mar’ Roxas III, is statistically tied with Poe, at 20%, while United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) bet and vice president Jejomar Binay is third at 18%.

This presents a possibility of Robredo – who is steadily climbing in the surveys just behind front-runner Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr – winning as vice president under a president who is not her running mate. Is Robredo prepared to commit as someone else’s VP?

“Cebu was one of those places na kahit dapang-dapa ako sa survey, marami nang tumaya dito sa akin,” she said. (Cebu was one of those places where even when I was at the bottom of the surveys, many took a risk on me.)

(If you ask me now where I attribute the rise in the surveys, because it’s steady, it’s largely attributed to every one of you. Cebu is one of the places that believed in me right away even when I was at 1%)

Continuity

Robredo said she wanted Cebuanos to know that she and Roxas are best fit to continue the gains started by President Benigno Aquino III’s administration. At the same time, she acknowledged that the growth achieved in the past 6 years has not been inclusive.

“We are much better off now than we were 6 years ago,” Robredo said. “Ang daming sinimulan ang pamahalaan na ito na anti-poverty programs, pero may disconnections ang proceso (There have been so many anti-poverty programs started by this government, but there are disconnections in the process),” she added.

She cited examples that during Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), there were “charges of anamolies” in distributing funds. And during Typhoon Glenda in 2014, there was a crop insurance program in place for farmers hit by the typhoon, but the list of beneficiaries of the program was not updated.

“Maganda ang [mga] programa, hindi maayos ang execution (The programs are good, but the execution is poor),” she said

Cebu, particularly the province’s northern areas, was among the provinces hit by the 2013 super typhoon that devastated the Visayas. It is the most vote-rich province in the country with 2.7 million votes.

A majority of the mayors of Cebu’s 44 municipalities and 6 component cities are members of the LP.

In 2010, Roxas won about 1 million votes in Cebu over Binay’s 400,000. But it will be tougher for the tandem to pull that off again this year with the Bisaya-speaking mayor and front-runner’s rising popularity in the province.

The latest surveys show Roxas’ ratings falling in the Visayas, while Duterte’s numbers have been rising.

The LP candidates were also in Cebu City with Aquino for a proclaimation rally with the candidates of Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK), the local LP alliance led by mayoral candidate Tomas Osmeña. – With Richale Cabauatan/Rappler.com